Chapter 17 Joseph of Arimathea

You want to know what was the first object of Jesus, and I would love to tell you; but no one can put his finger on the life of the blessed vine, or see the sap that nourishes the branches. Though I have eaten the grapes, and tasted the new wine from the winery, I cannot tell you all. I can only tell what I know of him. Our Lord, the Beloved, lived only three prophetic seasons: his spring of song and music, his summer of rapture, and his autumn of passion.Each season is a thousand years. His spring of song and music was spent in Galilee.It was there that he gathered around his lovers; it was there by that blue lake that he spoke for the first time of the Father, of our emancipation and freedom.

On the shores of the Sea of ​​Galilee we sacrificed ourselves and found the way to the Father.Oh, what a huge gain for such a small sacrifice! There, angels sing in our ears, telling us to leave the wasteland and go to the garden we want. He spoke of fields and green meadows, of Lebanon's airy hillsides, where white lilies bloomed and ignored the dusty caravans swaggering past the valleys. He spoke of the wild rose that smiles in the sun and gives its fragrance to the wind that blows. He also said: "Lilies and wild roses only live for one day, but this day is an eternal life spent in freedom."

One evening, as we sat by the brook, he said, "Look at the brook, and listen to its deep joy. It will follow the sea forever, and yet it sings its mystery every noonday." "May you follow your Father as the brooks follow the sea." Then came his summer of ecstasy, and we bathed in the June of his love.At this time, he only talked about other people—neighbors, fellow travelers, strangers, our childhood playmates. He talked about the travelers from the east to Egypt, about the farmers who drove their cattle home at dusk, and about the uninvited guests who came to our door in the evening.

He always said: "Your neighbor is the self you don't know when you see it. His victory will be reflected in your still water. If you gaze at the water, you will see your own face in it." "If you listen at night, you will hear your neighbor's words, and his words will be the beating of your own heart." "Treat him how you want him to treat you." "This is my law, and I will teach it to you, and to your children, and they will pass it on to their children, and so on from generation to generation, until the end of time." Another day he said: "You don't become yourself alone. You exist in the actions of others; others, though they don't mean to, are with you all the days."

"For every crime they commit, your hand is with theirs." "They won't fall unless you fall with them; they won't get up unless you rise with them." "Their highway to the temple is also your highway; as they go to the ruins, you go with them." "You and your neighbor are two seeds sown in the ground, and together you will grow, and together you will shake in the wind, and neither of you will claim the land alone, for the growing seed does not take its own joy boast." "Today I am with you. Tomorrow I will go west, and before I go, I warn you: Your neighbor is the self you meet but do not know. Visit him with love, and you will know yourselves, For only in this understanding do you become my brothers."

Then came the autumn of his passion. He talks to us about freedom, which he talked about in Galilee at the Spring of Music.But this time, he asks us to understand his words more deeply. He said that leaves sing only when they are blown by the wind, and that man is the cup filled by the day's rescue angel to quench the thirst of other angels, whether the cup is full or empty, it is Put the crystal clear on the feast of the "Most High". He said: "You are the cups, you are the wine, drink yourselves! Or remember me, and you will be satisfied in the remembrance." When we were on our way to the south, he said: "Although Jerusalem stands proudly on the top, it will surely sink into the depths of the black valley of Jehannam, and in its ruins, I will be alone.

"The temples there will be reduced to dust, and around the porticoes of the temples you will hear the cry of widows and orphans, and men fleeing in haste will not even know the faces of their brothers, for all are terrified." "But even here, if two of you meet together, say my name, and look westward, you will see me, and these words of mine will come to your ears again." When we reached Mount Bethany, he said, "Let us go to Jerusalem, the city is waiting for us, and I will ride through the gates on a horse, and I will preach to the people." "Many want to bind me, many want to extinguish my flame, but from my death you will find eternal life and you will be free."

"They will pursue my breath, which flies from heart to thought, as the swallow from field to nest; but my breath has escaped them, and they will never conquer me." "The walls my Father built around me will never fall, nor the ground he sanctified shall be defiled." Q "When the dawn comes, the rising sun will crown me, and I will face the day with you , that day will be eternal day, and there will be no more twilight in the world." "The literati and the Pharisees say that the earth thirsts for my blood, and I will drain the dryness of the earth with my blood. But my drops of blood will moisten the oak and maple, and the east wind will carry the seeds to him. Q And he said, "A king will arise in Judea, and the nation of Judah will go out against the great army of Rome. "

"I will not be king of Judea. For Zion's crown is made for a smaller forehead, and Solomon's ring won't fit on my finger." "Look at my hand. Don't you see how powerful it is, that it doesn't bother to touch a staff, or swing an ordinary sword?" "No, I will not stir the souls of Syria against the Romans. But you will awaken the city with my words, and my spirit will speak to her second dawn." "My words shall be an invisible army with horses and chariots. Without battle axes and spears, I shall defeat the emperor of Jerusalem and priestly Rome."

"I will not sit on the throne where slaves ruled slaves, nor will I fight against the sons of Italy." "But I will be the hurricane that blows through their skies, the song that sings in their souls." "I will be remembered." "They will call me Jesus the Anointed." These words were spoken by Jesus outside the city before entering Jerusalem. His words are engraved in people's hearts like a knife